History of Max Factor

Mr Max Factor credited as the father of modern make up. He was born in Lodz, Russia on 5th August 1877 and emigrated to America in 1914 and settled in LA where he was closer to the budding film industry. 

Originally Max Factor was a chemist, when he became fascinated with cosmetics, opening his first shop in Moscow selling his hand made rouges, creams, fragrances and wigs. In 1904 he became the official beautician and wig-maker to the Russian Royal Family.

Mr Max Factor was named the golden Hollywood's leading make-up artist and he created the first mascara wand and also the first foundation!

He then started working with Hollywood's leading film stars and making his own cosmetic products for a glamorous but realistic look on screen.

In 1916 he began selling eye shadow and eyebrow pencils which was the first time these products became available outside the movie industry. Then in 1920 he launched a full range of cosmetics, calling it 'make-up' - a phrase in which he coined.

Mr Max Factor combined science and make-up artistry over one hundred years to create market leading, iconic products. He was a great inspiration and by 20 he was running his own make-up shop where he created the signature looks of the era's most famous icons such as Ava Gardner, Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich.

In 1938 at the age of 59 when Mr Max Factor died, his son Frank took over the business until the 1970's. 

Below are the products pioneered by Max Factor:

• 1914 - the first make-up to give a more natural look on film
• 1918 - colour harmony, a face powder line in many shades to allow customising
• 1925 - supreme nail polish, a powder that was sprinkled on the nails and buffed off to give them a tint and shine
• 1930 - introduced lipgloss
• 1937 - introduced pan cake make-up for colour film and in 1938 a concealer called Erace
• 1940 - True colour smearproof lipstick
• 1948 - pan stick make-up
• 1971 - first waterproof make-up

Below shows some previous advertisements for Max Factor

1940-Maureen O’Hara in RKO Radio’s “Dance, Girls, Dance” endorses Max Factor Hollywood Face Powder, Tru Color Lipstick and Rouge.

Claudette Colbert in Max Factor Pan Cake Makeup Ad 1943

Ginger Rogers Max Factor Pan Cake Makeup 1944

Loretta Young Max Factor Ad 1945

Barbara Stanwyck Max Factor Ad 1947

Lana Turner Max Factor Ad 1951

Advertisement for Max Factor’s Pan-Cake Make-Up, featuring Judy Garland. As with many of the company’s ads, this one highlights the use of its makeup in a particular film, in this case The Harvey Girls of 1946.

Make-up developed in the 1940's by Max Factor, Jr. for black-and-white television. Previously, make-up developed for panchromatic film had also been used for television but more sophisticated cameras adopted after World War II were less forgiving of make-up developed for a very different medium. The new cameras, however, transmitted images in negative. The company’s solution was a make-up that looked highly unnatural in real life (to the point that performers often balked at wearing it) but appeared natural when reversed on screen.

1931 publicity photo of Max Factor watching as Jean Harlow applies his company’s mascara.

The Beauty Calibrator invented by Factor in 1932. The device, which measured the degree to which a person’s face and head differed from what was deemed to be ideal, was used to determine the most effective makeup solution. Photo Kristin Beeler.

Below is a video of a make-up class by Max Factor back in 1935 I was very intrigued when watching this and thought it was fascinating to see how the styles have changed.

Below is a video I watched which tells the story of Max Factor, I really enjoyed watching this and can say I found it very inspirational and fascinating.